August 22, 2014 The eagle has landed

Friday August 22, 2014

 Back to training my humans.  In the mornings, my humans eat.  When we are on the road, they let me sit on the table because I pretend I am looking out the window.  Then, I will turn and walk up to their food.  My maternal human pushes me away.  But my paternal human sometimes lets me move in.  That is until the maternal human says words.  Now the paternal human puts the bowl on the floor when he is done.  I am being treated like a common feline but I do get to lick the bowl.

Spouse made the morning walk with me.  The trans Canada trail is right off the campground,  so we follow it.  It is lined with ferns and heavily wooded with firs, birch and beech.  Beyond the trees is a farm with corn nearly ready.  There are still a lot of wild flowers in bloom even though we are starting to see the first signs of fall in the trees.

 

When we get back, we pick some fresh blackberries for breakfast.  We then ready Hannah, leaving the scenic town of Pictou.  We head south, then east towards Cape Breton.  The woods are getting thicker, the hills are getting even prettier.  We approach the Canso Causeway and cross the water onto the island.  We are heading to the town of Baddeck.  There are lots of water inlets, some marshlands and lots of wooded hills.   It is the weekend now and full service RV sites do not seem to be available.  But we did get a site with electricity and water so we are good.  This area is not crowded.  It just so happens that those people that are here are into camping!

 The day is still young so we decided to tour part of the Ceilidh (pronounced cay-lee) trail.  There is a large Celtic population here, and the city signs are in both English and Celtic (I guess the French were demoted!).

We head towards the town of Margaree via a fish hatchery.  We have been to dozens of those, yet Spouse has to see one more.  The countryside is beautiful!  The farms are well tended, there are woods and rivers and ocean inlets.   When we get to Margaree, we turn south.  We are on the windward side of the island and everything is Gaelic.  McCleod's, McCllelan, Angus...  We stop in Inverness at a links golf course.  Looks brutal, and is a bit expensive.  My back has been killing me but I am going to play golf somewhere around here even if it leaves me writhing in pain.  I could tell I would need a dozen balls to play this one.  And everyone has a Scottish brogue.  I left the pro shop with a wee bit of the scottish meself!

 

On the windward side of the island, there are not as many trees.  But the starkness is part of the beauty.  Whitecaps are kicking up on the seas.  There are a few harbors.  They are working harbors with fishing boats.  No luxury  vessels can be seen and it is rather refreshing.  We start heading back to Baddeck and it is trying to rain.  Then I saw a bald eagle.  We stopped and there was another eagle.  We were near a hiking trail so we took it for a while, then came back to get a better picture of Ernie and Ella Eagle.  We listened as they screeched to each other, and maybe to someone else too.  We also heard bull frogs.  We might need to come back for a hike here.

 

 

The 'wow' factor has definitely kicked up some here.